Hopkins Wants Pascal, Dawson, Bute, Then Retirement

By Lem Satterfield

Former undisputed middleweight champion, Bernard Hopkins, said that he would like to close out his career with a return bout against WBC light heavyweight Jean Pascal, a subsequent fight with southpaw ex-WBC interim light heavyweight titlist Chad Dawson, and a match up opposite southpaw IBF super middleweight belt-holder Lucian Bute.

"The series of fights that I would choose to end my career and that would enable me to walk off into the sunset, they would be Pascal first, Chad Dawson, and then, Lucian Bute," said Hopkins, who turns 46 on Jan. 15. "I mean, gimme Pascal, Dawson, Bute, and I'm gone."

The 28-year-old Dawson (29-1, 17 knockouts) is coming off of August's, HBO televised, 11th-round technical decision loss to the 28-year-old Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KOs), who battled Hopkins to last month's Showtime televised, disputed draw. The 30-year-old Bute (27-0, 22 KOs) is coming off of his fourth-straight stoppage win over Jesse Brinkley in the in the ninth round in October.

Hopkins has promised to retire in the past, but says wins over Pascal, Dawson and Bute, however, would be satisfying enough to call it a career.

"Fighting those three guys will satisfy a lot of things for me. No. 1, I would be the oldest guy to win a major, recognizable, world title against a respected opponent, and what better way to win it than by defeating the WBC champion, which is a belt that I think is one of the oldest title belts in boxing," said Hopkins.

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.

[QUOTE=IronMike*;9960063][center]
[IMG]http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2010_images/hopkins-jones.jpg[/IMG][/center]
This clown is going to fight Dawson? lol
When was the last time Hopkins fought a [B][SIZE="3"]live naturally bigger[/SIZE][/B] opponent?
[url]http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=26321[/url]
Great reasons for not fighting Dawson:dunce:[/QUOTE]
lol....every excuse in the book to avoid dawson....dawson never sold out…

[QUOTE=Iceta Lives;9964602]If Hopkins don't fight Dawson, then it might suck as far as what some fans want. But like I said, it aint gonna hurt his legacy one bit if he doesn't. He's beaten two opponents that Dawson has faced…